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The Missile Defense Agency is readying a potential $15 billion contract with Lockheed Martin to buy Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems for Saudi Arabia, a deal in the works for years that would in a single package outfit the desert kingdom with seven batteries -- equivalent to the Army's current THAAD ballistic missile defense capabilities for the entire globe.

A defense intelligence official told reporters this week that the biggest threat to U.S. space superiority is likely not a single adversary capability, but rather actions in recent years by Russia and China to better organize and integrate space capabilities within their militaries -- actions that could help the Pentagon as it makes a case to create a new Space Force.

The Air and Missile Defense Radar successfully tracked a ballistic missile target during a recent test in Hawaii, capping nearly two years of air and ballistic missile developmental tests during a milestone event for the $5.8 billion SPY-6 sensor, as the program is also called, built by Raytheon.

The Pentagon's acquisition executive agreed to allow the Missile Defense Agency and Raytheon to transition the Standard Missile-3 Block IB into production more than a year ago only after mandating continued flight tests in order to ally concerns about the reliability of the interceptor in the wake of several developmental flight-test failures.

The Missile Defense Agency is getting a new director for test, according to a Pentagon announcement. Army Maj. Gen. Douglas Gabram, commanding general of the service's Aviation and Missile Command headquartered at Redstone Arsenal, AL, has been assigned to become MDA's next director for test. In the same announcement, the Defense Department said Brig. Gen. Kenneth Royar, deputy commanding general (Support) for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), would take Gabram's place as head of Army Aviation and Missile Command.

The Defense Department is considering a new guided-missile interceptor program to defeat hypersonic boost glide threats as part of a range of potential new-start programs that also include a possible high-powered laser or adapting existing ballistic missile interceptors to deal with the new-class of ultra-fast threats that China and Russia are expected to field in the 2020s.

President Trump confirmed Feb. 1 the United States would suspend its obligations under the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty due to Russia's alleged violations, allowing the Pentagon to move forward with "military response options."

The U.S. military's nuclear strategic deterrence fleet executed a "reliable" operational flight test last night over the Pacific Ocean when an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, and flew its intended course, a second consecutive developmental test-launch success since a failure last summer.

The Air Force Research Laboratory is calling for industry insight into the bioeffects of directed-energy applications, according to a Feb. 12 request for information published on Federal Business Opportunities.

The Pentagon expects to submit its fiscal year 2020 budget to Congress in March, more than a month later than previously planned because of delays driven by the longest federal shutdown in U.S. history, according to two government officials.

The Defense Department is preparing to ask Congress for an increase of more than $100 billion in its controversial warfighting account to skirt a mandatory budget cap, but some government officials are worried it will only further the account's appearance as a slush fund.

From advanced software to autonomous systems to directed energy weapons, the Defense Department lacks the adequate tools, ranges and skills to fully vet many emerging technologies Pentagon leaders say are crucial to renewed great power competition, according to DOD's head of operational testing.

The new chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee tasked with examining future threats and capabilities wants to see the Pentagon develop policies for using artificial intelligence and come forth with a plan for IT modernization, he told Inside Defense in a recent interview.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK) said this week he has talked with President Trump about nominating a new defense secretary to succeed Jim Mattis, voicing concern that acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan lacks the "humility" of his predecessor and is unable to muster the full force of his office because of his "temporary" status.

The Pentagon's top weapons tester has deemed a key upgrade of the Joint Space Operations Center (JspOC) Mission System (JMS) is not operationally effective or suitable for its space situational awareness mission, a setback for the Air Force program which aims, among other things, to provide real-time alerts of hostile actions against U.S. satellites.

The Defense Department and intelligence community have not adequately resourced or utilized space testing infrastructure that would support more operationally representative threat simulation, according to a new report from the Pentagon's top weapons tester.

Inside Missile Defense is a biweekly report on efforts to defend the U.S. homeland as well as its troops abroad against missile attacks. We track both national and theater missile defense systems as well as arms control issues, counterproliferation efforts, related space activities and much more.